It goes without saying that helping deliver good field position is one of the more unheralded aspects in football.

So when Ray Guy stood behind the NFL Hall of Fame podium Saturday night and told young punters across America to keep the faith because they are an important part of the game, UCF special teams players took that message to heart.

Guy, who has an award named after him honoring the nation's top punter in college football, finally made history as the first pure punter to be inducted into the Hall of Fame after 23 years of eligibility.

"I know that he deserves it because he's the best of all time and that's who I strive to be like," said UCF punter Caleb Houston, who was on the Ray Guy Award watch list in 2013. "I just think it's awesome for punters to get some recognition because kickers are always the ones scoring the points and little kids know the kickers' names. Now, finally, we got a big punter in the hall of fame, so it's a big step."

Players didn't get to watch the speech live because they were participating in UCF's preseason camp, but the weight of Saturday's ceremony wasn't lost on them.

For years, Sean Galvin has listened to his teammates rave about their favorite position players making it to Canton, Ohio. Galvin, a kickoff specialist, was just glad he could finally share in the moment.

"It was meaningful and just exciting to see. You know, all the wide receivers … are like, 'Oh, that's my boy Jerry Rice and all that. And then we have a kicker and they're laughing at us. But we're laughing back, so it's cool," Galvin said.

UCF's special teams unit in 2014 should be no laughing matter. Aside from UCF's receiving corps, no other unit on the team has more experienced players. Houston, Galvin, placekicker Shawn Moffitt and long snapper Scott Teal all return to action.

Houston averaged 42.2 yards per punt, ranking in the UCF single-season top 10, and Moffitt set a single-season record converting 21 of 23 field-goal attempts and all 49 extra point attempts for 112 total points. They both helped the Knights post a 12-1 record last season.

But special teams coach Mike Buscemi is equally happy about a pair of freshman kickers on the team who are pushing the veterans.

"The depth that we have is really good," Buscemi said. "We have two punters right now that are both really good and young kids and they're gonna go out there every day and compete against each other."

He added, "[Wright] had three really good days and he's pushing Moffitt and Rodrigo and all those guys. You can see that him being here is even putting more pressure on them. They know I can't miss, I can't do anything like, I gotta be perfect. Now, it's not just making the kicks but being more technical in the operation."

Buscemi puts his kickers, punters and snappers in a daily kicking competition to measure their progress. Players say the constant competition for their spots wards off complacency.

"If you're not getting better, you're getting worse," Houston said of the daily kicking competitions. "It just makes you want to get better every day, every rep. It makes you want to have a perfect rep."